


i like you a lot, boo boo!

by natureal



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: 2park if you squint, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Crack, M/M, donghyun has seen enough, might be a lil ooc, ponyogeuri are chaotic roommates, woojin makes a short appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24894985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natureal/pseuds/natureal
Summary: It's like Jaehwan and Sewoon are roommates.Except that they aren't, and they live one floor apart and their friends are tired.
Relationships: Jung Sewoon/Kim Jaehwan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	i like you a lot, boo boo!

**Author's Note:**

> * a very, very late fic for jaehwan and sewoon's birthday
> * dedicated to everything that these two have done for the past months
> * im glad i got to finish this after letting it rot for 3-5 months (i lost track)
> * nothing beats howons fooling around to strike up my fancy
> 
>   
> title is from pristin's wee woo
> 
> edit: sorry it took a while, but i've finally re-edited and had a friend beta this for me! to my best friend, if you're seeing this, you're the best <3

Sewoon thinks he’s fairly living a regular life. He got into a nice university, even went for a language & literature major. Doesn’t get into trouble, makes friends really easily, passes all his subjects, attends club activities, and tries his best to live in peace everyday. Not that bad, he shrugs. 

Here then comes his new roommate, Donghyun, sophomore psychology major, resident psychology department and College of Liberal Arts sweetheart (everyone thinks he is, and Sewoon has seen multiple boys and girls look at him like a manhwa character, but Sewoon knows that the younger guy is not—in any way, a sweetheart in his eyes), and eventually became the bane of his existence.

“Really? _Me,_ of all people, is the bane of _your_ existence?” Donghyun huffs unbelievably while chewing down his ramen, dagger eyes looking straight at Sewoon. It was probably a bad idea that he shared what he told Jaehwan about said roommate. “More like _you’re_ the bane of _my_ existence.”

Sewoon narrows his eyes. “I refuse to believe so,” he snarls as he opens his own cup of ramen, shoving the noodles immediately into his mouth without blowing, ignoring Donghyun’s quick caution, making him spew the noodles back into the container while Donghyun groans in disgust. 

He promptly coughs, he really shouldn’t have done that. 

The younger reaches back into his desk to grab some tissues and hands it to Sewoon. “See that? Last time I checked I’m younger than you and the elderly should be the ones taking care of their dongsaeng but here we are doing the complete opposite.”

Sewoon sets his cup and chopsticks down to grab the tissues and wipes the corners of his mouth. “You’re exaggerating,” he stood up to throw the ply into the recycling bin. “We’re not always like that. I treat you to some Busan fishcakes every now and then!” he tries to supply, grabbing his cup and chopsticks back, now making sure he blows on it before he takes a mouthful.

“I’m not even getting halfly compensated for dealing with your bullshit, hyung.” Donghyun mutters under his breath.

Donghyun as his roommate. Both a blessing and a curse, he concludes.

Blessing, because they get along so well that Sewoon was once caught sprawled with his stomach on the floor and his face planted in an open textbook and Donghyun simply mutters _‘same’_ and laid down next to him, listening to Sewoon’s ramble about his program.

Curse, because he soon found out that the bastard took a photo of him that day and refuses to delete it, "even if you try to annihilate and silence me!" (What a drama queen.) (He just gave up on trying to twist and turn his devil of a roommate's limbs. The attempt was a little brutal, but damn does Donghyun fight him back with equal force.)

Blessing, because they get along so well and share a couple of common interests.

Curse, because they get along so _painstakingly_ well that for the first semester as roommates, the amount of times Sewoon has felt so disrespected surmounts the initial number that he has been throughout his entire life. 

So, Sewoon doesn’t know whether he'll be offended by Donghyun’s comment or accept the ugly truth.

“Hey,” Sewoon lifts his chopsticks towards Donghyun and it takes a lot of his will to not send it flying towards the younger’s direction, so clicks his tongue instead. “You’re mean.”

Donghyun slurps down some broth. “It’s not mean if it’s the truth.”

“See, this is how you’ve become the bane of my existence,” he stares at his roommate who is now gulping down his ramen, head tilted and face obscured by the cup. “My life’s peaceful pace has been interrupted ever since you came crashing into this room.”

He turns back to finish his own noodles, and when Donghyun drinks up till the last drop, he burps with his mouth open that Sewoon had to kick him in the shin, his noodles midway being slurped. “What are you, twelve?”

The smug smile Donghyun wears makes Sewoon briefly want to make an appeal to the residence head to switch roommates. 

“Yeah, out of ten.”

“Did we just unknowingly do a 2NE1 meme reference?”

“You bet we did.”

Sewoon finally finishes his own ramen and clumsily dumps it into its respective trash bin. The both of them clean up, Donghyun going to the washroom to grab a wet cloth to wipe down the stains on his own desk first, passing it to Sewoon afterwards.

“What made you tell that to Jaehwan-hyung anyway?” Donghyun asks.

“Don’t know,” he shrugs. “We were just talking about our club activities then got sidetracked.”

“My ass,” Donghyun sarcastically retorts. Sewoon sees this as an opportunity to slap his roommate's butt a little hard and Donghyun winces. “Can you not use me as a device to cover up your poor attempts of hiding that you have a crush on him.”

Sewoon’s face contorts into a threatening expression (it doesn’t look like it), and took another chance to hit his roommate's butt. “How many times do I have to tell you I don’t have a crush on him? Geez.”

“Can you stop your weird affinity for my butt? Go perform your kinks on Jaehwan-hyung instead.”

Donghyun is lucky that it’s only a cloth that Sewoon is holding right now, if he had been holding his notebook he would’ve sent it flying to his lovely dongsaeng’s face instead. 

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  


The scene actually went like this:

“I feel like we should think of another, I don’t know, stunt for the recruitment fair,” Sewoon says, tapping his pen in a pattern against the cafeteria table.

Jaehwan only looks at him while he takes a spoonful of his bibimbap. 

“Don’t get me wrong, approaching people while sing-song talking to them using iconic lyrics is a classic!” Sewoon explains. “But they’d just stand there, listen to us singing to them, which is like a free personal concert by the way, and I appreciate whenever they give us compliments–”

“Fuels me,” the older comments, his mouth still stuffed from another spoonful.

The younger’s hands immediately reach out to pull some tissues to hand it over to Jaehwan. “Hyung, you’re gonna spill your food.”

Jaehwan smiles at him sheepishly before chewing back down his meal. “Sorry. As you were saying?”

“Just go and finish your bibimbap first, hyung,” the older nods. “And as I was saying. Our tactic is great, but the free personal concert rate and sign-up rate are significantly different.”

Finally, Jaehwan finishes up and gulps down water first. “What do you have in mind, then?”

Sewoon groans and his shoulders slump. “That, I don’t have,” he then straightens his posture. “That’s why I came to you, hyung. You come up with amazing ideas. Usually.”

The older scoffs. “Usually?” he retorts.

Sewoon waves it off. “You know what I mean, hyung.”

“Well okay then,” Jaehwan clears his throat, “How about we put your roommate in front of our desk and let him sing? Doesn’t he have a guitar too?”

“Wait a minute,” Sewoon pauses for a second, actually. “Donghyun?”

“Is there any other roommate of yours that I have no knowledge of? Our dorm building only allows two people per room, as far as I can remember.”

The younger shakes his head. “You’re joking.”

“Duh.”

“No, I meant putting Donghyun in front of our desk.”

Jaehwan’s expression twists into confusion. “Why? The guy’s literally a campus sweetheart! He’s got the looks that makes everyone swoon—me, being one of them, by the way, but that was the first meeting kind of thing—and he’s got skills! A very kind kid too.”

Sewoon wants to fake-gag, but he’s not in the right place to do so. Thankfully his brain had stopped him from doing so despite the incomprehensible picture Jaehwan described of his dangerous roommate. He cannot believe this.

He holds out his fingers to count in front of Jaehwan’s face. “One, he’s not a staff member. Two, I can’t believe you fell for his front like that. He’s literally the bane of my existence.”

“That’s impossible.”

The older clicks his phone to check the time, telling Sewoon that they need to both get going. They start to pack their bags as Sewoon explains, “Trust me. I’m literally his roommate. He’s not the sweet goody-two-shoes guy everyone thinks he is.”

Jaehwan reaches out to pet Sewoon’s head and coos. “Aw, Sewoon. Maybe he’s only like that to you,” Sewoon slightly leans into the touch, a little disappointed when the older pulls it back. “He’s a sweetheart to everybody else. An angel to me, even.”

“I really can’t believe this.”

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


_**dormitory superintendent** 10:35am  
Hello, Sewoon-ssi! We’ve found you a new roommate._   
_He will move in immediately in the following days this week._

_**sewoon** 10:41am _   
_Good morning Ms. Kim! Thank you for your help!_   
_I’ll be going back to the dormitory this Tuesday,_   
_hope I arrive earlier than him so_   
_I could get to greet him a warm welcome ^^_

_**dormitory superintendent** 10:44am_   
_That’s sweet and welcoming of you, Sewoon-ssi!_   
_I hope the two of you get along!_

  
  
  
  
  
  


Sewoon thinks of it now as a mistake.

He kind of misses his previous roommate.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He and Jaehwan meet the following week, sitting opposite each other at the library.

Jaehwan is set on finishing to transfer his notes, diligently unpacking his notebooks and pens immediately after they took a seat. Unfortunately for Sewoon, he has to study for his upcoming literary theory quiz.

Almost two hours later, when Jaehwan reaches about three-fourth of his progress, spinning his pen while he tries to analyze the next paragraphs to write, he hears the younger grumble in front of him.

“I hate this,” Sewoon says, dramatically closing his laptop. “Absolutely loathe. Despise. Total abomination.”

“Okay, human thesaurus.”

“Why am I a language major?”

Jaehwan stops spinning the pen in between his fingers, concentration now lost. He most probably won’t have the energy to continue rewriting. He pointedly looks at Sewoon. “Dude,” he says disbelievingly.

Sewoon pouts and whines, distressingly gesturing at his laptop. “I’m so sick and tired of these plain white PowerPoints. Why bother make it into a powerpoint when you could just hand me a pdf! Or the actual book!”

The younger sets his elbows on the table and places his hands on his cheeks, just simply looking at Jaehwan. The latter thinks he’s so _adorable_ , whining like a baby like this, so he reaches out to stroke the younger’s hair. Sewoon juts his lips even more.

“Take it easy, Sewoon.”

“Donghyun and I could probably make better PowerPoints. And we’re not even design majors.”

Jaehwan stops from stroking Sewoon’s hair, retracts his hand to reach out for the younger’s laptop. “Let me see how bad it is, you whiner,” he teases. Sewoon responds with a quiet ‘hey’ and opens his laptop to show the whole atrocity to his hyung.

“Look at that,” he does a quick scroll through the whole file. Jaehwan has to squint due to the rapid movement and brightness of the screen. “All white backgrounds and black text! And look again!” he gestures with urgency towards the screen, you know, for dramatic impact because, “Gulim! Flipping _Gulim_ _,_ hyung. It’s like he copy-pasted the whole chapter into this presentation then called it a day.”

“Oh come on, at least it’s not Papyrus.”

“My lifespan just got reduced.”

Jaehwan squints. “I don’t know if you’re being dramatic or funny.”

“Ha. ha,” Sewoon retorts, pulling his laptop away from the older. “Let’s get lunch.”

Jaehwan agrees, before Sewoon goes off tangent about font choices. Besides, they’re both going off-trail from their own study session anyway. 

  
  
  


Later that night, Sewoon went off through a whole discussion with Donghyun at how scandalous the PowerPoint presentation was. Thankfully, Donghyun was in the mood to bat up with Sewoon’s issue.

“And then I told this to Jaehwan-hyung and he just told me at least it’s not in Papyrus! I had a glimpse of what it would have been right in front of my eyes and it literally just reduced my lifespan for three years. So I told him that, and he said he doesn’t know if I was being dramatic or funny.”

Donghyun chews down his nutrition bar. “Were you aiming for both?”

Sewoon plops down on his bed. “Maybe?” he starts playing with his bangs, sweeping the hair back and forth from his forehead. “But after that he bought me a strawberry milkshake, said it’s for me, the whining baby. Can you believe he called me a whining baby.”

Donghyun rolls his eyes. “Obviously,” he continues chewing on his nutrition bar. “You’re his baby, in all forms. But not romantically… yet.”

“Not this again, Dong.”

“The both of you act like a married couple all the time. Everyone in the club thinks so,” he stands up to throw his wrapper to the recycling bin, and grabs two packets of ramen from his cupboard, walking up to Sewoon who’s still lying in his bed and Donghyun kicks the baseboard. “Come with me downstairs, let’s get hot water for ramen.”

Sewoon is startled, sits up with his offended and confused eyes. “Weren’t you eating a nutrition bar a while ago?”

“Just thought it looked sad on the racks, _‘oh, poor thing, no college student purposely wants you huh?’_ and I was already hungry, so.” He starts pulling Sewoon’s arm, urging his roommate to come along with him. “Come on. Stand up. Downstairs. Ramen. Me. Hungry.”

“You’re a college sophomore, Dong. Go get hot water yourself.”

Sewoon was about to lie back down but shoots back up midway when Donghyun says, “I’m giving you one free ramen and one ice cream.”

But he still doesn’t stand up. “You sick spawn of the devil. You’re good at this,” he narrows his eyes at his roommate who only raises his eyebrows. “Can I invite Jaehwan-hyung?”

“Sure, just tell him to bring his own ramen. I’m not treating the both of you.”

Donghyun doesn’t know how, but Sewoon is suddenly by the front door and fixing his hair. “Such a slowpoke, Dong.”

Donghyun only shakes his head. 

  
  


**sewoon** _10:25pm  
_ hyung! come downstairs

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:25pm_ _  
_its 10:25pm sewoon  
why would i come downstairs  
unless ure going to murder me  
pls spare me im still young i have lots of hopes and dreams

**sewoon** _10:27pm_ _  
_ㅋㅋㅋㅋ what r u saying hyung ㅋㅋ  
donghyun said he’ll treat me ramen

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:27pm_ _  
_ & i have to come downstairs because…?  
whats my involvement  
will my two sweet dongsaengs treat me ramen too? ^^

**sewoon** _10:28pm_ _  
_you’ll be graced w donghyun’s presence?

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:28pm_ _  
_……  
bye sewoon im gonna study to keep me alive

**sewoon** _10:29pm_ _  
_fine  
i’ll buy u one ramen  
just one ramen!!

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:30pm_ _  
_i’ll be there in 5

**sewoon** _10:30pm_ _  
_heol.

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:31pm_ _  
_u shouldve just said so when u texted me u know

**sewoon** _10:31pm_ _  
_just come downstairs already hyung  
past five minutes this wont be free

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:32pm  
_ jokes on u im already at the hallway  
  
 **jaehwanie hyung** _10:34pm  
_ knock knock loser

  
  
  


The message brings Sewoon to look up from his phone to see Jaehwan walking in. The younger waves his hands as a signal, as if Jaehwan doesn’t blatantly see two guys in their pjs slurping on their ramen right from the entrance of the area.

When Jaehwan finally stands in front of their table, he gives Donghyun a high five before taking the vacant seat beside Sewoon.

“You were quicker than I expected,” Sewoon comments, and Jaehwan gives him a sour look. 

The older looks around their table. “Where’s my ramen then?”

“Still haven’t bought it. I thought you were gonna take a little longer,” this earns a slap on his shoulder, wincing dramatically at the pain. He stands as he rubs his palm over the targeted spot. “C’mon hyung. Let’s go and buy your ramen.”

Jaehwan only narrows his eyes as he looks up at Sewoon’s face. “You’re unbelievable. I wasted my time coming downstairs as quickly as possible only to be fed _nothing._ Not to mention I’ve literally just sat down for a second,” he sighs, almost out of defeat. “Kids these days have no respect.”

Across him, Donghyun finally speaks. “You’re only a year older than him, hyung.”

Jaehwan grimaces. “Help me with this one, Donghyun,” he pleads.

Sewoon scoffs. “Come on now,” he grabs the older’s wrist, tugging him to follow as he starts to drag them away from the table. “Let’s go.”

Jaehwan is left with no other choice, letting the younger peel him off the chair.

As the two walk away, Donghyun shouts just enough to not cause interruption. “One Bacchus for me please! I’ll pay later, thanks!”

It was a quick trip to the convenience store, Sewoon asking Jaehwan what flavor of ramen he wanted before grabbing two cans of Bacchus. The older vanishes from his sight as he was finding the energy drink’s rack, so he assumes that the older might have been waiting for him outside.

He thinks of grabbing a single pack of choco pie, but he’s 100 won short because of the two extra purchases, damn it.

When he stands in front of the counter, Sewoon’s assumption was concluded correct because Jaehwan was already standing outside, looking at Sewoon through the convenience store's glass panels with a blank expression. Sewoon hides a chuckle.

Sewoon finally steps outside, lifting his plastic bag to wave in front of Jaehwan’s face. “Stop being grumpy, I got you your ramen,” but his eyes catch the plastic bag that the older is holding. “What did you buy?”

Jaehwan shrugs nonchalantly. “Some snacks to nibble later at my room, also Woojin asked me to buy jellies. Let’s go,” he steps forward, Sewoon following suit. “Donghyun might get grumpier.”

It was a quiet walk back, going straight into preparing Jaehwan’s ramen while Sewoon’s noodles are already sad and soggy, but he doesn’t mind.

The two of them stand in front of the gas range as Sewoon carefully cooks Jaehwan’s ramen, talking about the chords to a song the older wants to learn when Donghyun calls for Sewoon’s attention.

Sewoon turns his head to see his roommate already diving into the plastic bag. “Two cans of Bacchus for me? Aw, Sewoon-hyung, you care for me this much?”

He gently turns the gas range off, asking Jaehwan to finish it up. He walks to their table, bumping Donghyun’s arm and tells him that the other can is for Jaehwan, which he gets a knowing look in return. Sewoon kind of hates it when his roommate gives him that look. So he responds with a blank yet threatening expression.

Jaehwan slides beside them with his bowl of ramen in hand a few seconds into their expression game. He frowns at the two, but shrugs it off and off-handedly comments, “The heck you two are doing?” before slurping his ramen. 

It was their cue to cut it out, Sewoon silently slipping on the seat next to Jaehwan. Donghyun goes back to his bowl and Sewoon finishes his soggy noodles.

The three of them silently chew their godsend food for dreadfully thriving university students until Jaehwan reaches something in his plastic bag. A can of Bacchus and a pack of chocopie.

He quietly slides it to Sewoon, the younger looking widely at him with noodles still hanging from his mouth. Jaehwan ignores it, like it’s something so natural, why is Sewoon looking at him like that, so he slurps down on his ramen again.

This time, Sewoon grabs the other can of the energy drink from his own bag and nudges it in front of the older. A little surprised, Jaehwan finally looks at him while hurriedly slurping the dangling noodle.

From the other side of the table, Donghyun amusedly saw the whole scenario unfold. He resists the urge to scoff, gag, and file a complaint about excessive PDA.

The both of them look at each other, both of their cheeks full and smiles with their eyes. When they’ve both gulped their noodles down, only did they finally laugh. High-pitched and almost like a giggle.

“You—I can’t believe— _yah_ , Sewoon-ah,” but the younger keeps on laughing, shoulders nowhere near static.

When their laughters have finally died down, Sewoon heaving a deep breath before wiping a small tear from his right eye. Jaehwan is still trying to gather himself, giggling in staccato as he tries to look at the younger’s direction.

Sewoon notices a splatter of broth slightly below Jaehwan's eye, gesturing on his own for the older to wipe it himself. 

But Jaehwan painfully misses the spot with his index finger, why would he do that with his small index finger, prompting Sewoon to hold Jaehwan’s face, and takes the initiative to wipe it with his thumb.

Jaehwan only looks at him gratefully, the three of them finishing their food and cleaning up. Donghyun went ahead of Sewoon, knowing that his roommate would walk with Jaehwan back to the latter’s room.

It was when Sewoon had dropped Jaehwan off to his room and was already walking on his floor’s hallway back to his own unit when he checked his phone.

A string of messages from his roommate, timed as they left the cooking area.

  
  
  
  


**donghyun** _11:09pm_ _  
_the audacity _  
_the both of u. flirting.

in front of two (2) sacred things  
1.me  
2\. my ramen  
right in front of me and my ramen.  
the disrespect 😠

  
  
  
  


When Sewoon barges into their room, he uninterruptedly makes his way to his bed and does not—even for a second—hesitate to send a pillow flying towards Donghyun’s direction.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sewoon hasn't realized it yet, but recommending music has been his own way of connecting to the people around him.

For Donghyun's case, it was two weeks after his roommate moved in when Sewoon was first caught blasting music from his speakers (and body idly grooving to the beat), that he scrambled to turn it off, but Donghyun is quick to tell him not to, saying that he actually likes the song. They both move their head to the rhythm, and by the end of the music Sewoon has already started spewing song recommendations to his roommate left and right. He likes to think that was when the both of them started to get close.

But before that, there’s always one person that he’s been recommending songs to. Even till now, and he doesn’t see himself stopping just yet.

It’s always _‘hey I think you might like this! It suits your taste’_ and _‘oh I know a song that has a similar vibe to this! You would probably like it too’_ but recently, he’s been doing other things.

  
  
  
  


**sewoon** _11:04pm_  
[link]  
this song reminds me of you!

**jaehwanie hyung** _11:09pm  
_ oh? this sounds nice?

**sewoon** _11:10pm  
_ righttttttt?  
my music taste, heaven tier.

**jaehwanie hyung** _11:10pm  
_ you mean god tier? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

gimme a sec i’ll also rec u one  
  
 **jaehwanie hyung** _11:11pm  
_ [link]  
thats a good one. like put holy water in my ears  
but in the form of sound  
thats a bad example. anyhoo!  
it reminds me of u too  
i like listening to it these days

**sewoon** _11:12pm  
_ oh my bad yes i meant god tier ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

 **sewoon** _11:16pm_  
it was goooood  
i like it too!

**jaehwanie hyung** _11:16pm_ _  
_yeah haha im glad u do ^^

  
  
  
  


A quiet Wednesday night, both Sewoon and Donghyun are busy studying on their opposite desks when Donghyun silently stands up from his chair to peer over Sewoon’s shoulder. “What are you doing?”

Sewoon jumps in his seat and winces over his shoulder from the younger’s voice. “You surprised me,” he dramatically closes his eyes and clutches his chest, and pushes Donghyun’s face away from him. “Can you please stop being nosy, Dong?”

Donghyun falls back into his seat and takes a twirl. “Been studying for almost three hours now, it's taking a toll on me. Decided I want to annoy you for the time being.”

“Can you leave me in peace?” Sewoon groans.

The devil himself had the audacity to act like he’s contemplating. “No, never,” he pushes. “The lease contract actually came with a special rule that I annoy the hell out of you whenever I feel like it.”

Sewoon starts to question why he is living with a brat.

Donghyun stands up and tries to peer into Sewoon’s laptop again, the latter blocking his hands from the screen. The older tries his best to shoo him away as he closes it halfway.

He turns to Donghyun, “Just go watch cooking videos or anything.”

“That’ll only make me hungry and I only have one last sad packet of dried seaweed left in my cupboard.”

It pains him to know that his roommate would never stop bugging the shit out of him until he surrenders. He thinks Donghyun should’ve studied law. This boy pries at him so much like it’s a hobby, and Sewoon hates that he’s good at always milking something out of him. That probably sounded weird. 

An exasperated sigh and a rub at his temple. “If I tell you what I’m doing will you leave me alone?”

The audacity of the other boy to act like he’s pondering. “Depends.”

“Donghyun.”

The younger finally stops teasing, playfully slapping Sewoon’s back as an unorthodox form of apology. “Okay, okay, you poor thing.”

Sewoon swivels back to open his laptop and pulls up MelOn.

“I made Jaehwan-hyung a playlist.”

Donghyun moves his face closer to the screen and reads the title aloud, “ _‘All the songs that remind me of you’_ ” he then gives Sewoon a look. “Do you hear yourself hyung?”

“Perfectly. I’m still young.”

Sewoon gets a crispy slap from the back. He doesn’t know why he feels like he deserved it.

“Really? You made him a playlist? And _that_ as a title for the cherry on top? Are you a fool or are you a fool,” the lack of intonation makes sense to Sewoon that it was rhetorical. Donghyun shakes his head disbelievingly. “You’ve got it real bad.”

Somehow, Sewoon doesn’t understand, because it’s simply that. Songs that remind him of Jaehwan. What’s so wrong about it? He could make Donghyun the same playlist but it’s going to be a variety of songs titled _‘Why?’_ or _‘Pain’_ or something like that.

He thinks Donghyun might be a tad of a fool too.

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


Just like any other day, the banter just passes through like a dandy walk in the park. Except it’s not exactly dandy, all their banters have never been. 

He’s mastered the art of not giving a damn whenever he’s being pushed to Jaehwan. He doesn’t have any other eccentric feelings for the older, believe him, he’s just comfortable. Really, really comfortable.

Comfortable, that Jaehwan’s roommate, Woojin, has been so used to seeing him in their room. 

“You know, Sewoon-hyung, I won’t be surprised if you’ve gotten a spare key card for our room,” he hears the sophomore comment, coming out of the bathroom. “Maybe we need to charge you your share for rent.”

Jaehwan has gone downstairs to the convenience store to buy energy drinks and triangle kimbaps as per Woojin’s favor. Sewoon offers to come with but Jaehwan insists he stays, and before he could interject, the older is already slipping on his slippers and makes his way outside.

The both of them left in the room turn to each other after the door clicks, and Woojin makes it his cue to take a piss.

Sewoon chuckles with a tinge of confusion. “Sure, Wooj.”

Woojin walks straight to his desk and maneuvers to face Sewoon who is seated on Jaehwan’s chair. He holds out his palm, “Great! You can pay directly to me.”

He laughs and playfully pushes the younger’s chair, but he failed to distribute his strength evenly so he pushed a little too hard, and given the small space, it sends Woojin gliding and bumping his arms to his desk with a loud thud that Sewoon urgently stands up to hold the younger’s arm, an onslaught of ‘sorry’s’ spilling out of his tongue.

“I deserve a damage fee, hyung,” Woojin has the strength to joke, but the pain still kinda stings, cause how did he not realize that Sewoon is _Strong_ strong until now. 

“I’ll treat you ice cream!”

Suddenly, Woojin feels no pain.

“I don’t want good ol’ Melona or Samanco in the convenience store downstairs. I want Baskin Robbins.”

Woojin finds it amusing that there isn’t any hesitation on Sewoon’s eyes. “Okay, call.”

Woojin pumps onto the air in victory. “Maybe getting ungracefully pushed to my desk was worth it,” his snaggletooth peeks from his grin, which Sewoon has always thought was the younger’s charm. 

“God, I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, you think I’m God?”

“No- I’m not pertaining to-”

“What are you two doing?” they both turn to Jaehwan who’s locking the door behind him with a full plastic bag in hand.

Woojin walks up to snatch the bag from Jaehwan and fishes out his tuna kimbap. “Sewoon-hyung is my sugar daddy now.”

Jaehwan gags, Sewoon screeches. 

The older sits on the edge of his bed, looking in Sewoon's direction who’s on his desk.

“Damn Sewoon, if you only told me you were loaded and your bank account is sexy with zeros then I would’ve signed up myself first and swooned you.”

“But aren’t you two in that situation already?” Woojin comments, holding out his half-eaten kimbap like a glass of wine. “Sans the money part. Besides, you’re already sw-”

Jaehwan jumps forward and almost strangles Woojin to cover his mouth while the sophomore struggles to keep his kimbap in his hand, holding out in the air away from possible damage of his precious thousand won happiness.

“Stop talking, Woojin.”

Woojin grumbles incoherently, mouth still covered with Jaehwan’s hand.

“Hyung, let him breathe,” Sewoon says, ever so gently, and Jaehwan finally pulls away and goes back to sit on his bed.

Woojin breathes heavily, with a bit of drama, because what is Park Woojin without a sprinkle of dramatics. “Damn, what’s with you two and beating the shit out of me today? I really deserve damage fee.”

Jaehwan’s face forms into a faint scowl. “Ugh, whatever. I bought you an energy drink too, you brat.”

The sophomore takes another bite of his kimbap. Oh, his poor kimbap. “How much is it again?”

Jaehwan puts three cans out of the bag, carefully handing Sewoon one, and recklessly throwing another into Woojin’s direction, catching it abruptly as he finishes his snack. “Free. That's your damage fee, you brat.”

Woojin smiles, the one with his snaggletooth proudly peeking, knowing he’s gotten the compensation he wanted and Sewoon almost coos. 

  
  
  
  
  


Sewoon has always been in Jaehwan’s room for many various reasons. He first came to the older’s room because of a class they shared back in freshman year and fatedly got paired up, thus being the start of their friendship and this, err, routine.

That has been the reason for the first two months, until Sewoon starts inviting Jaehwan to grab Gong Cha, sending short and annoying consecutive messages to the older until he replies with _‘wherefore thou disturbed my slumber’_ which he cheekily answers with _‘okay, language education major’._

He initially planned to get boba quickly, pull Jaehwan out of his bed, go for just a swift takeout and head back to their dorm, but Jaehwan is still glued to his mattress.

Sewoon tries to pry him away from the covers, but Jaehwan only counters to grab the hem of Sewoon's hoodie and pulls the younger next to him.

Sewoon ungracefully falls on his chest, facing Jaehwan who’s all snuggled up in his pillow and blanket with his eyes closed. “Give me 10 minutes. Power nap. You too.”

Even if he tries to protest, he knows the older would not pay him attention because he loves his power naps more than anything. He knows, ‘cause Jaehwan has been doing it several times when they’re in the library, the club room, or like this. This isn’t something new.

He looks at Jaehwan, creases on his forehead obvious that he really was in deep slumber before his intrusion. He thinks of how he is lucky, to have a best friend like Jaehwan whom he easily gets along with, joins him with his antics, has a nice share of classes together because of their almost-similar majors, also apparently signed up in the same club and are now both club staff members, plus, they’re even on the same dorm building. It hasn’t dawned into him so strikingly like this before, but looking at it now, maybe it’s a playful coincidence. _Fate_ , if you will.

Moreso it feels like a dream. Jaehwan feels like a dream. A soft pillow of clouds lulling him, making him feel safe. Without knowing, he slowly closes his eyes while staring at the older’s cheeks.

  
  


Sewoon senses something by his foot that is dangling at the edge of the bed, forcing himself to open his eyes and look, but when he twists around, he finds himself being pushed down by a weight on his waist.

“Look at you two. How lovely,” he opts to turn his head the other way around instead to look at Woojin, almost straining his neck.

“What time is it?”

Woojin walks over to his desk. “5:33pm. Your cuddle session is a bit early. You two would do that at around 8pm. Usually.”

He frowns. One, because they overslept for twenty extra minutes and two, why is Woojin keeping track? He wiggles out of Jaehwan’s arm, poking the latter on his waist to wake him up. 

“Hyung,” he calls softly. “Wake up. Let’s get Gong Cha.”

Jaehwan groans, trying to open his eyes to adjust to the lighting. “Mhhrghm… five minutes.”

“We already slept for thirty minutes,” he taps Jaehwan’s arm, gently pulling him up. He doesn't pull his hand away from the older, afraid that he would fall back to sleep. Jaehwan’s hair exactly resembles a bird’s nest and Woojin takes this chance to snap a photo, giggling at every shutter. Sewoon should probably ask for a copy from him later. But for now, he’s only staring at the older, with a smile on his face as Woojin continues to press the shutter— _how many photos is he taking?_

Jaehwan rubs his eyes with the hand that Sewoon is not holding. “Thirty? Feels like we only slept for ten,” he yawns.

Sewoon gets off the bed, pulling Jaehwan again. “C’mon hyung, I need my wintermelon fix before I study.”

“Okay okay hold on,” he leans closer to the younger, shoving his face close to Sewoon, making the younger step back. “Do I have eye boogers?”

He inches closer to look, and vaguely hears the older draw back his breath. “Nope, but your hair,” he puts his hands on Jaehwan’s hair in an attempt to hold it and flatten it down. “Woojin could probably make that as his second room.”

“Haha you’re so funny hyung,” Woojin snarls from the side.

He pulls his hands back when Jaehwan takes over to fix his hair himself, finally stepping off the bed to look at his disheveled state in the mirror by the doorway. He turns to Sewoon, “Looks good now?”

“Yep,” he shakes his head to ruffle his hair and runs a hand back. “Let’s go.”

When Jaehwan opens the door and Sewoon follows suit, Woojin yells, “Hyungs! Green grape smoothie for me!”

  
  
  
  
  


Like how Sewoon spends a lot of his time in Jaehwan’s room, so does Jaehwan vice-versa.

The door clicks, Donghyun comes into Jaehwan and Sewoon giggling. The eldest is on Sewoon’s desk while the latter is on his. He motions to Sewoon, “Off,” and Sewoon grabs his pen and notebook to transfer to his bed.

“Oh, to be young and in love,” the youngest murmurs. Not out of bitterness though, more of teasing. But the two are still giggling and Donghyun decides not to pry and washes up.

  
  
  


Donghyun comes back to peace, the two glued to their books with their highlighters gliding left and right. He likes it like this the most, where the room is at peace and isn’t a cockpit arena or a movie theater where couples disgustingly make out at the back and he lets himself enjoy the short while of freedom as he shoves in his headphones. 

It is two hours later when they’ve finished studying and Jaehwan instantly dives next to Sewoon on the bed. “Why is this subject such a dread. Like the bland bread I bought from the convenience store the other day. Ugh, my precious won wasted,” he whines. “But I had no other choice and I was already running late and my stomach was yelling at me to fill it up or else it would go brrrrrr. Literally.”

Sewoon hums. “What time are we meeting next week to plan for the welcome assembly, by the way?”

Jaehwan props his shoulder on the mattress and places his head on his hand. “Hm. I’ve mentioned it to Jonghyun-hyung yesterday but he said he’s still trying to arrange the schedule with Youngmin-hyung and Nayoung-noona.”

“Yeah, they said they’ll message the group chat when they’re done,” Donghyun chirps in, whose headphones are now on his neck and is reaching his desk compartment for a bag of Kko Kkal Corn.

“I still can’t believe you’re part of the club’s staff now,” Sewoon narrows his eyes.

The youngest rolls his eyes. “Well believe it,” he throws a piece into his mouth and speaks through the crunch. “My main purpose is to annoy the hell out of you and bait new members.”

He passes the bag to Sewoon and he pokes Jaehwan to sit up, the both of them pouring a generous amount into their hands before the bag goes back to Donghyun.

“Ugh,” Jaehwan groans and the two roommates look at him. “Just thought about how we have to do a lot of heavy lifting again from the club room to the auditorium.”

“Oh come on hyung, last year you only carried two boxes and that’s it,” Sewoon comments.

“Shut up,” he slots a corn chip into his index finger and pushes it to Sewoon’s mouth. “We’re not as strong as you, Mr. I Like Exercise.”

Sewoon promptly chokes, and hurriedly chews on the chip shoved into his mouth before chuckling. “Then you should work out more often, hyung,” he suggests.

“That’s my New Year’s resolution.”

Both Sewoon and Donghyun look at each other with a funny expression. “Hyung, it’s been months since New Year,” Sewoon remarks.

Jaehwan puts a finger on Sewoon’s lips. “Shush, darling. I’m quite serious about this now. I’m getting old. Bones crackin’ and posture slumpin’.”

Sewoon playfully bites the older’s finger and Jaehwan retracts with a bark. The younger throws in another corn chip. “You’ve said that last year too.”

“I said,” he clears his throat. “I’m really gonna exercise. Watch me.”

“Sounds fake, but sure.”

Sewoon earns a light kick on his side. Donghyun only laughs at his roommate’s pain.

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


Two weeks later, they get an announcement for an immediate meeting in the club room.

Sewoon just got out of his afternoon class and has already passed by the Communication building when his phone buzzes with a message from Jaehwan.

  
  
  


**jaehwanie hyung** _3:39pm_ _  
_youngmin-hyung said ure late  
& donghyun’s gonna beat ur ass

**sewoon** _3:40pm_ _  
_wah, im scared  
poor me  
oh my dear superhero jaehwan save my life from terrifying doom

**jaehwanie hyung** _3:41pm_ _  
_fuck off  
im gonna let donghyun ruin ur life  
suffer, plebeian  
hurry up

**sewoon** _3:42pm_ _  
_jokes on u he already did the moment he came knocking into our room

**jaehwanie hyung** _3:43pm_ _  
_less texting, more running for ur life  
now run

**sewoon** _3:43pm_ _  
_heh

  
  
  


A few seconds later, the door opens and reveals the younger, instantly bowing down and apologizing for his tardiness. They all seem unbothered that he has arrived, and he remembers that he messaged the club chat room the night before that he’ll be a little late because of his class. 

He immediately spots Jaehwan who’s giving him a teasing look and quietly makes a beeline to sit next to the older on the floor and laid his head down on Jaehwan's shoulder.

Adjusting his head to a more comfortable position, he feels something different.

“You’ve actually gone to the gym?” Sewoon remarks.

Jaehwan side-eyes him. “Hey, it was a resolution I was absolutely serious about!” he looks back in front, watching the staff members gather up around the laptop on the desk. “I go there when I get to squeeze it in between studying and I do home workouts!”

Sewoon doesn’t question him about it, but it does seem like that Jaehwan’s figure has improved since last semester. It’s not like he knows every single thing Jaehwan does. “No wonder your shoulders feel a bit sturdier than before.”

“Shut up, I get it, you are better at exercising than me.”

“I didn’t say that though?” he says, as a matter of fact. “I’m complimenting you.”

Sewoon doesn’t see it, but a tinge blush of pink paints across Jaehwan’s cheeks.

The older scoffs disbelievingly. “I should be the one resting my head on your shoulder, you brat. Since yours is so wide we could play football on top. Hold on–” he taps Sewoon’s head lightly and nudges. “Your head. Heavy.”

Sewoon adjusts his position, and decides to lay his head on Jaehwan's lap instead. “Is this more comfy?”

The staff members are now gone from the front desk and it’s now left with Jonghyun, Youngmin, and Nayoung, who is typing something into the laptop. The noise from their seats increases, small groups talking amongst themselves but it’s just the two of them by the wall.

Jaehwan's hands fly up to play with Sewoon's soft smooth hair. “Kinda,” the younger hums. 

Sewoon likes it the most when Jaehwan does it, likes how the older runs his fingers through his hair so gently, and he’d hear the older hum a beautiful melody when he feels like it. He doesn’t quite catch what the older is humming today, the noise from the other members in the room distracting him a bit. 

He’s already feeling like he wants to close his eyes any second now. 

So he does for a second until he remembers. “Youngmin-hyung didn’t scold me earlier. You lied,” he narrows his eyes at the older. “Nice try.”

Jaehwan shrugs, pushing back Sewoon's bangs. “Got bored waiting for you.”

Sewoon scoffs. “You don't have to miss me all the time,” he jokes, almost going back to shut his eyes.

“Are the both of you done being gross?” a voice interrupts—Donghyun, who is lounging behind them and managed to see everything.

Jaehwan gives him a stink eye from behind and throws a candy wrapper at the sophomore. “Shut up, Donghyun.”

Sewoon follows. “I told you he’s devil incarnate.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sewoon never seemed to understand Donghyun's _Sewoon-hyung You're Actually So Stupid_ propaganda.

“Is it necessary for each of those words to be capitalized?” Sewoon blinks at the laptop shoved in front of him by a mysterious creature named Kim Donghyun, who unfortunately looks obviously frustrated and stressed with the messed up strands sticking out his hair. This version of his roommate has always been fascinating to Sewoon.

In front of him, there is a PowerPoint presentation projected on the laptop screen with the title screaming in a vibrant red over blue scheme. “I think that's not a great choice of color combination, Dong.”

Unbelievably, Donghyun sticks his palm to his face. “You're insufferable. That's already Exhibit A.”

“The what?”

“What you just said.”

“The ‘the what?’”

Donghyun scrunches up his face in greater frustration and makes a weird movement with his hand. “Way before that.”

“How is that Exhibit A?” Sewoon muses. He stares at the title slide once again, blinking rapidly to prevent his eyes from burning because of the appalling contrast of colors and notices the acronym. “ _SHYASS_? Really, Donghyun?”

To protect his vision, Sewoon presses the button for the next slide but he immediately regrets it as the screen turns into a blinding yellow background and the word ‘FOOL’ plastered full-screen. Thankfully the font color is black and not white, or else Sewoon would sue Donghyun for vision damage.

“You know what,” Donghyun snatches his laptop from Sewoon’s desk and places it on his desk instead. “Forget this, I’m already not in the mood.”

“Hey, you made a PowerPoint about me therefore I should at least have the right to skim through the content!” Sewoon supplies, reaching for Donghyun’s laptop again and pressing exit from the full screen, scrolling through the file.

He braces himself, because it’s Donghyun's creation (he questions it all the time), and the title slide is already a blow. Turns out, the following slides were just the words ‘WHY?’, ‘WHY AGAIN?’, and ‘IN CONCLUSION’ in separate slides with bright green, purple, and red backgrounds respectively.

“And the point of this is…?” Sewoon says, turning to Donghyun.

“I really cannot believe you.”

Later that night, Donghyun prayed. Not begged, definitely _not_. He did not beg for the gods to whoop his roommate’s ass. He is an angel.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**jaehwanie hyung** _1:04pm_  
sewoonie~

  
 **sewoon** _1:04pm_  
sup

**jaehwanie hyung** _1:05pm_ _  
_u dont have more classes today right  
can u come shopping with me 🥺

  
 **sewoon** _1:06pm  
_ sure! be there in 10.  
just finishing my lunch in the caf

  
  
  


He meets Jaehwan right after he finishes his lunch, the both of them making their way to the hypermarket. The older immediately pulls him to the home decor section and stops in between the aisles of mugs.

“I’ve always had this mug with a broken handle — that my friend from high school gave me,” Jaehwan tells him, eyes scanning each shelf and reads the product tags. 

Sewoon raises an eyebrow. “He gave it to you… without the handle?”

“Yeah, maybe he wants to give it as a token of appreciation. I don’t know,” he walks ahead, apparently this side only displays plain colored mugs. “He just gave it to me a few weeks before our graduation and I forgot to ask why.”

Sewoon keeps his tail along Jaehwan, who is now crouching and winces while looking at a decorated mug’s price.

“It has sadly been a makeshift container with all the other small things I have, like a pencil holder, and has a double purpose as a paperweight for restaurant flyers—oh did you know there's a newly-opened chicken place near our complex? I heard it was g—oh my god I’m getting sidetracked.”

Sewoon only giggles at him, finding everything that the older boy says amusing. 

“So yeah, my handle-less mug which I never saw its true purpose,” Jaehwan stands back up and picks one product from the shelf on his eye level, holding it close to his eyes to examine for a quick second before putting it back and turns to Sewoon. “I knocked it off and I wanna buy a new one now.”

“Wow, doesn’t seem like it,” he says sarcastically, and Jaehwan gives him a glare. With soft eyes, but still a glare. It’s cute, actually.

“Watch me set you on fire.”

“Does that make me ‘hot’ then?” he smiles, teasingly.

Thank god Jaehwan isn’t holding another mug in his hand or else he would’ve dropped it. He looks at Sewoon straight in the eye, with a look that Sewoon doesn’t decipher. “Shut up.”

Sewoon beams at the older, and Jaehwan shifts to another shelf, reaching for another mug and checks it.

“Why don’t you just buy a pencil holder then?” Sewoon asks, also picking up a mug and thrusts it to Jaehwan as a suggestion. “Look at this one. I think this design suits your desk.

Jaehwan laughs, grabbing the product from Sewoon and takes one look at it. “I’m not using it for my desk. I’m finding a new mug for drinking.”

“But don’t you already have one? The green one?”

“Oh, that? I will be using _that_ as my pencil holder now,” he looks at the younger with a proud expression. “Genius move, I know.”

The younger only shakes his head. “You’re unbelievable.” 

Jaehwan picks up another one, gradient-colored, and comes as a pair.. “How ‘bout this?”

“Oh? That looks nice too.”

“I’m torn.”

  
  
  
  


They end up buying the pair for the both of them.

“You’ve got,” Donghyun starts incredulously at Sewoon, who is lounging on his bed. “Matching mugs. Couple mugs, to be exact.”

Sewoon walks to his desk and sits opposite to Donghyun. “Yeah, Jaehwan-hyung liked the design and it comes as a pair so he decided, why not, you know? And that it was a good friendship token of some sorts,” he holds it up as if to mock his roommate. “It actually looks nice! He insisted on buying it full-price for the both of us but I said no, just told him I’ll chip in, but he insisted. Though I really appreciate his thought.”

“Pause.”

“I was already on full stop, but sure.” Sewoon comments.

Donghyun rolls his eyes. “I’m pretty convinced you two are already married. You two just went homeware shopping, Hashtag married couple things.”

Sewoon pries at the design one last time before setting it on his desk. “We only bought _mugs._ Stop exaggerating.”

“Yeah, and next thing you two are adopting a puppy and taking alternate custody. But pets aren’t allowed in our dorm, but the two of you are so likely to do so if not for the rules.”

“You should’ve been a creative writing major, Dong.” he dismisses.

As much as Sewoon wants to deny, in hindsight, it might actually be true.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s just Jaehwan.

Kim Jaehwan, language education major, friend since freshman year, fellow club staff member, lives on the floor below him, a dependable hyung, casually barges into each other’s room, gives each other warm cuddles, and goes shopping together. A friend. A _special_ close friend, he reckons.

They meet each other almost every day unless it’s exam week, listen to each other’s superficial rambles, give song recommendations, and constantly message each other back and forth about their day.

It’s just Jaehwan and that’s what they do. It’s a _them thing_. Sewoon doesn’t know if that supplies the context.

  
  
  


**jaehwanie hyung** _10:42pm_ _  
_i really dreaded that lecture this morning  
gaming with woojin is a trap  
thank god prof lee was in a good mood today or else i wouldve peed in my pants for a recitation

**sewoon** _10:43pm  
_ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ youre silly

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:43pm_ _  
_?????

**sewoon** _10:43pm  
_ wdym ‘????’

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:43pm_ _  
_what an odd reply of urs

**sewoon** _10:43pm  
_ what are u saying ㅋㅋㅋ  
  
 **sewoon** _10:44pm_ _  
_so  
wanna grab coffee?

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:44pm_ _  
_is the cafe still open?

**sewoon** _10:45pm  
_ no i mean downstairs  
at the convenience store

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:45pm_ _  
_oh ok, sure  
seems like u had a rough day 

  
  
  


Jaehwan waits for him at the lobby, and the look on the older’s face is something Sewoon cannot explain. Not in a bad way, though. It’s soft. It’s warm. Jaehwan smiles, and Sewoon feels his insides crumble. It’s weird. 

It feels like every step closer to the older adds intensity to his heartbeat. It’s becoming loud and heavy that it’s really bothering him, knocking out all of his sense,, but Jaehwan, oh, Kim Jaehwan and his unpredictable actions.

He swiftly pulls Sewoon into his open arms, wrapping the younger in a warm hug, pats his back and ruffles his hair. Sewoon is taken aback, of course, but as how Jaehwan makes him feel weird things, Jaehwan also makes him feel safe and warm, even during the chilly night.

Sewoon thinks about it. When Jaehwan pushes back, grabs his wrist and drags him to the convenience store. He continues to think about it, even when Jaehwan is waving a hand at him to try to snap him out of his trance and laughing in front of his face.

“Damn, Sewoon. I didn’t know literary research would hit you so bad like this,” Jaehwan points out before drinking his canned coffee. His eyes grow wide when he realizes that the drink is unexpectedly good, and he tells Sewoon that. But Sewoon is still in his daze.

Yeah, it sure is literary research that’s hitting him so bad like this. Right? He reminds himself to finish his homework later.

Sewoon finally looks at his hyung, and proceeds to act like an internal conflict didn’t happen.

It’s just Jaehwan. 

  
  
  


Sewoon comes back and sees Donghyun sprawled on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He walks towards his roommate’s bed and sits next to the sophomore.

“Dong, what do you think of Jaehwan-hyung?” he asks, looking at the other side of the wall. He fiddles with the string of his hoodie while he waits for his roommate’s answer, licks his drying lips and breathes heavily.

“I think he’s chill. A great hyung.” 

He finally looks at Donghyun, more or less perplexed. “That’s it?”

Donghyun finally pulls himself to sit up next to Sewoon. He shrugs and looks at him questionably. “What else?"

“I don’t know,” Sewoon snatches Donghyun’s blanket and fiddles with the hem. “Could you describe him more?”

“Why are you asking me this?” Donghyun takes his blanket away from the older before the threads become loose. Sewoon sighs in defeat, and Donghyun shakes his head. “I should be asking _you_ what you think of Jaehwan-hyung.”

Well. That catches Sewoon’s tongue.

“What—well, he's my best friend? Close friend? Someone I hold dear? He means a lot to me, you know,” he explains. “Right after my family, my dog, my major. He's somewhere after those.”

Donghyun stands up and sits on Sewoon’s bed to face him. “Do you really hear yourself right now hyung?”

Sewoon, with tired and confused eyes, looks at Donghyun straight in the eye. “What now.”

“You like him.” Donghyun deadpans.

  
  
  


_What?_

Does Sewoon like Jaehwan?

It’s not like his heart does weird somersaults when he sees Jaehwan. But unlike earlier, it’s different. It’s not like he likes going to Jaehwan’s room to invade, or just for the sole reason of cuddling together. It’s not like Jaehwan easily makes him comfortable in any situation. It’s not like he’ll do everything just to see Jaehwan smile and hear his laugh. It’s not like he’ll come running in a flash when Jaehwan needs him. It’s not like that.

It’s not like he realizes he likes looking at Jaehwan’s lips, or the moles on his neck. It’s not like Jaehwan’s voice is his favorite. And that’s what he says.

“...no I don’t?” he says.

“Yeah sure, because it took you,“ Donghyun who is now miraculously holding a bag of honey butter chips, clicks his phone open to check, “almost 2 minutes of silence. Says something, don't you think so, Mr. Genius?”

“Because I was sorting it out?”

Donghyun throws him a pillow. “You're horrible, hyung.”

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


Sewoon shouldn’t be overthinking.

He has another upcoming quiz the following day and nothing seems to enter his brain right now. He keeps on looking at the same paragraph, reading the same line over and over again, but the information just really doesn’t process in his head because all it contains now is _Jaehwan, Jaehwan, Jaehwan,_ in an annoyingly large screaming red text over black background.

He drops his pen and looks up to let his eyes wander the library, and he heaves a heavy sigh, looking outside the window. As he was pulling his earphones out, a ding resonates.

  
  
  


**jaehwanie hyung** _4:23pm_ _  
_sewoonie!!!!

  
  
  


Perfect. Timing really likes to play with people.

  
  
  


**sewoon** _4:24pm_ _  
_yes?

**jaehwanie hyung** _4:25pm_ _  
_are u still at the library???? sucks to be u  
but look!!  
[image attached]  
a brown poodle!!! i saw a brown poodle!!  
it’s you!!!!  
how adorable jnj  
isnt he adorable  
  
 **jaehwanie hyung** _4:26pm_ _  
_sewoon isnt he adorable  
pls respond

**sewoon** _4:28pm_ _  
_sorry haha  
yes he is

**jaehwanie hyung** _4:28pm_ _  
_oh wait i rlly shouldnt be distracting u right now!!!  
rock that exam!!!  
  
 **jaehwanie hyung** _4:29pm_  
not rock as in the form of a rock. like. Zero  
rock it by getting a perfect score!!!  
u can do it sewoonie!!!!  
& brown choco poodle is cheering for u!!  
even though i will never cross paths with the little friend ever again  
but i know he is! wagging his cute tail  
  
 **jaehwanie hyung** _4:30pm_ _  
_i should stop

**sewoon** _4:30pm_ _  
_it’s alright, hyung  
thank you  
u made me smile today  
i’ll finish studying now  
thank u again  
  
 **sewoon** _4:31pm_ _  
_u mean a lot to me :)

  
  
  


And that’s how Sewoon realizes. He likes everything else that he has denied before: going to Jaehwan’s room, getting Gong Cha together, hearing mundane and random blurbs from him, cuddling together, and simply just seeing and being with Jaehwan in general. He likes it so much that he feels like his heart got stuck in his throat, and his fingertips are buzzed with electricity.

With the rush of his realization running in his nerves, Sewoon hurriedly packs his things and bolts straight out of the library and into their dorm building.

He barges into their room, panting out the words “Oh my god, Donghyun, I can't believe you're right I _am_ so stu—”

“Hyung!”

“—pid. My eyes!” Sewoon yelped, clumsily stepping back and slamming the door shut before running to seek refuge in Jaehwan's room, highly mortified.

  
  
  
  
  


Sewoon is surprised at how contradictingly complicated and easy it is. He gets an overwhelming epiphany about Jaehwan, and yet he’s already knocking on the latter’s door. It’s the shock from what he saw in his room that’s mainly giving him the ability to face the older right now. 

The door opens and with just one look at the younger, Jaehwan lets him in. Woojin is nowhere in sight, and Jaehwan immediately explains, “He’s out in the PC room. Probably will come back at 8pm, unless he drops by his boyfriend’s place.”

Sewoon grumbles as he roughly drops on Jaehwan’s bed, hogging the blankets to cover his whole body.

Jaehwan doesn’t question it, and pulls the blanket from the younger’s face and slips himself next to the boy. On instinct, Sewoon pulls him close, and wraps an arm on Jaehwan’s waist.

They stay like that for a little while, Sewoon still trying to recover from his horror. Jaehwan lets him snuggle right by his neck.

“I need eye surgery,” Sewoon finally speaks after approximately five minutes. His breath tickles Jaehwan’s neck, which makes slightly Jaehwan jerk away.

“Why?”

“I wanna unsee what I just saw,” they’re talking in a hushed volume, but there’s no one else in the room. The both of them just feel like it. Like it’s their own little secret in their own little world.

Jaehwan’s face scrunches up in confusion. “I think that’s not how it works?” he chuckles. “What did you see, by the way?”

On cue, Sewoon angles his face to look at Jaehwan in a full horrified expression. “Donghyun! And our club's VP! The two of them! Sucking faces! I am—all in uppercase—PETRIFIED.”

Jaehwan chuckles, thinking why the younger had to verbalize saying ‘uppercase’ when it's clearly showing in his horrified tone and resists singing the opening line from Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive.

“But they’re dating?”

“Hold on,” it’s like a record scratch in his head, and Sewoon leans back from Jaehwan’s neck to shockingly look at the older. He bolts up, and his eyes are as big as golf balls. “You know about this?”

The look on Jaehwan’s face is almost as if he’s mocking him. “And _you_ don’t?”

Sewoon mirrors his expression. “Why else would I be in here?”

Jaehwan pointedly looks at him. “You’re always in my room for various reasons, Sewoon,” then he’s pulling the younger back, this time, snuggling at the younger’s chest.

Now that he has thought of it, Sewoon never actually said something to Jaehwan when he arrived but the older welcomed him like it’s nothing new. It’s really just a routine they both got used to.

Sewoon’s question remains unanswered from Jaehwan, but he catches on and mutters. “Kinda heard about it from Minki-hyung. You know him, he's like an incubus. Except he thrives on tea and gossip and not from uhh…”

Jaehwan trails off, now feeling super conscious. The younger ducks his head to look at him.

“Not from what?”

“You know!” Jaehwan’s ears are burning red. “Hashtag incubus things that keep them alive.”

“Huh?” he mumbles. Sewoon squeezes his brain to remember. He knows it! He knows it and it’s on the tip of his tongue— “Oh. oh! Yeah… right.”

They only laughed at each other, the both of them agreeing to the thought, and stayed like that for the next two hours. Close to each other, warm and tangled in between. Sewoon thinks this is somehow what serenity feels like.

  
  
  
  


“You!” Sewoon immediately exclaims in horror as he closes the door after receiving a text message from Youngmin that he’s already left their room. He wishes he could permanently delete that scene in the Recycle Bin of his memories. Oh, his poor, poor memories. “I can’t believe you!”

“What now, hyung,” Donghyun exhales, plopping his whole weight on his chair with a can of soda in hand. It clicks, and he listens to the fizz before turning his eyes to his roommate.

“Youngmin-hyung! Our club’s vice president! What on earth, Dong?!”

The expression on Donghyun’s face remains neutral. “I know that information, hyung. But thanks for the reminder.”

“You! Him! Making out!” he inhales deeply, still with his horrified expression painted on his face. “I don’t usually curse but, _what the fuck!_ ”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The following night, Sewoon makes sure to explain to Donghyun how urgent this is.

Through a PowerPoint, of course.

Sewoon hastily makes it while he was in the library, purposefully excusing himself from Jaehwan’s invitation to hang out by the Han River. (He will regret it later on, but today he’s set on getting help.)

He apprehensively waits for Donghyun in their room, sipping his third bubble tea for the day. The door security chimes, and Sewoon swallows the boba he’s chewing before abruptly pulling Donghyun to his desk and lunges his laptop in front of his roommate.

“You _think_ ,” Donghyun reads, with a disbelieving tone. “You _think_ you like Jaehwan-hyung, parentheses question mark,” Sewoon nods. “I’m gonna deck you.”

Sewoon holds him down and puts a hand in front of him. “Let me explain, okay?” then the next slide appears.

It continues from there, Sewoon explaining how loud his heart thumps at any hint of Jaehwan, how he loves the warmth the older gives off that he could replace the sun, how the crinkles of his eyes whenever he smiles are actually really lovely and he wants to trace it with his fingers, and that Jaehwan would probably ask him to do a backflip and he’ll do it! Even when he can’t. 

“In conclusion, I _really_ like Jaehwan-hyung. Full stop,” he finishes. Donghyun nods in agreement. 

“Then what is this for, exactly?” 

“I don’t know what to do with these feelings,” he lets his back fall into his bed. He blinks, trying to simply interpret his whirlwind of feelings. It’s a lot of things. Exciting, terrifying, fluttering, jittery. “It’s so… complicated?”

Donghyun shakes his head. “Trust me, it’s not. You’ve got it pretty sorted already.” he moves from his desk to his bed, placing a pillow on his lap while he watches the older have an existential crisis of some sorts. “All you need is to confess, which is like, in my opinion, you should do it soon.”

Ah, right. Confessing. That should be easy, right? (Easy peasy lemon squeezy, but it’s difficult difficult lemon difficult.)

  
  


“So,” Donghyun urges. “When do you plan on confessing?”

He continues to stare at the ceiling, holding up his hands in the air while he explains. Donghyun thinks he should be facing him instead of the concrete. “Confessing is a lot of work, you know, gathering your courage and all. Sometimes pulling up a surprise if you feel a little fancy and competitive. It takes a plan,” he continues on. “And so the plan that I have in mind... is to not to.”

Donghyun did not waste another second before throwing a pillow straight into Sewoon's direction. “Heck, Dong, you should've been a sharp shooter instead of a psych major.” he groans.

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


The following days, Sewoon finds himself now situated nicely in between their beds, but sprawled on the cold floor while Youngmin tries to “cook” ramen on Donghyun’s desk (just hot water out of the youngest’s vacuum flask), and Donghyun is seated on his bed, playfully throwing his stress ball in the air.

“How ‘bout you try and listen to an inner voice?” Donghyun suggests, finally speaking across him.

Sewoon slightly raises an eyebrow. “My inner voice?”

Donghyun catches the ball mid-air when he realizes. “You know what, no. Don’t listen to _your_ inner voice. Find your Donghyun voice.”

The expression on Sewoon’s face contorts into something Donghyun cannot decipher. Probably confusion. Why should he be on the floor? “And I should listen to my Donghyun voice because…?” 

From the other side of the room, Youngmin groans exasperatedly.

“Listen to your Youngmin voice then. Clearly I’m much more sensible than you two.”

Sewoon sits up to look at Donghyun, and the both of them pointedly look at the older, nodding subtly in agreement. Fair point. 

Sewoon finally stands up from his position to take a seat on his desk chair when he hears Youngmin tapping the lids off, and the smell of ramyeon wafts their noses while the older gestures to Donghyun.

“Okay. The Yinner Voice,” Sewoon concludes.

Donghyun stands up to get the chopsticks for the three of them. “You know that grasshopper in Pinnochio?”

“Who? Jiminy Cricket?” 

“Yeah, didn’t he say he's like his conscience or something… Youngmin-hyung is your Youngscience. Or Minscience. Yiminy Cri—”

Youngmin interrupts before it gets worse. “STOP for the love of god,” he stirs the noodles from their ramyeon, makes sure the egg and cheese he added is well mixed. He’s already been passed the responsibility of notching their ramyeons up, but only gets _this._ He cannot even explain what kind of oppression this is. “I hate it here.”

  
  
  
  


Sewoon decides he should just let it be. Ignore his own dramatics. He badly needs ice cream right now, and of course there’s only one person he has in mind to call.

  
  
  


**sewoon** _2:42pm_ _  
_hyung  
wanna get ice cream with me after ur class

**jaehwanie hyung** _2:45pm_  
sure!  
i’ll be done in a few  
btw donghyun texted me a while ago  
he wants to go to see a movie  
said he also invited u

**sewoon** _2:46pm_  
?  
didnt get the memo  
Oh wait  
he just texted

  
  
  


He presses the notification, and he thinks it’s odd that Donghyun suddenly invited them to the movies. 

  
  
  


**donghyun** _2:46pm_  
movies, 3:30pm  
see ya  
hurry ur ass up

**sewoon** _2:47pm_  
ok bossy

  
  
  
  


**sewoon** _2:47pm_ _  
_3:30pm he says

**jaehwanie hyung** _2:49pm_  
okey dokey  
shall we get ice cream before meeting him?

**sewoon** _2:49pm_ _  
_sure! I’ll wait for u in front of our building

  
  
  


Sewoon nervously makes his way to their department building, playing with the loose strap of his bag as he practices how he should greet Jaehwan in his mind. A wave, then ‘hey’? A hug? High five? Fist bump? A playful push on his shoulder? All the options seem to stack itself one after the other like it’s a wrestling match, and it forms a tower that’s too dangerous if it topples, and he tries to see the peak of it, what should he do? What should he— 

“You look nice today,” Jaehwan’s voice interrupts his thoughts, and the tower of options falls down like Jenga.

Sewoon's brain starts to short circuit at the sight of Jaehwan, up close and real. It’s the same person, but the way he sees him now is different. He resists the urge to gawk at the older.

“Uh. Thanks, hyung. You too! You look…” he tries to extinguish the Spongebob brain office on fire situation in him, and trust him he’s trying his best, eyes travelling from top to bottom of the older’s presence, but flipping heck, how is Jaehwan glowing like this? It’s like someone clicked the Effects panel and jacked up Outer Glow on him. “Bright!”

Jaehwan freezes for a second before his lips curve into an amused smile.

“Dunno if it’s obvious, Sewoon,” he clears his throat, and gestures at his outfit. “But I’m wearing a black shirt, but sure, thanks.”

Way to go.

It was the first of numerous catastrophes today.

They went to get ice cream, but the moment their hands brushed, the expression on Sewoon’s face stiffen. He’s not usually like this, but today just happens to be one bad day for his body to act up.

Thankfully, Jaehwan doesn’t notice this as he walks ahead when he sees the ice cream parlor. Sewoon takes this as an opportunity to stand back and breathe, gather his senses again, and slaps his cheek lightly for good measure.

Jaehwan notices the lack of presence beside him, and turns back to gesture to the younger to stand next to him, overlooking the menu and deciding on which flavor to choose.

Sewoon takes a big breath before slipping himself next to Jaehwan. He feels the older’s arms drape around his waist, pulling him closer, and his breath hitches. He takes a quick glance over Jaehwan, who doesn’t seem to bother because that’s what they do all the time. Keep the other close.

The younger breathes a small sigh of relief when Jaehwan settles his hand on his shoulder instead. That might be safer.

Sewoon is so caught up noticing the small things that he didn’t know that the older is already asking for his choice. Jaehwan playfully blows on Sewoon’s ear, which helplessly turns red at the contact.

“What’s with you today, Sewoon-ah?” Jaehwan giggles.

“Oh uh, nothing,” Sewoon laughs nervously. He only hopes it wasn’t obvious. “Just thinking of the lesson we had today.” Nice cover up.

Jaehwan shrugs. He really can’t help it when someone’s been drowning in stress, can he?

“Ice cream’s my treat,” he offers, hoping it could at least make the younger feel better.

It doesn’t. 

It shoots Sewoon’s mind and heart into an overdrive, feels like the gears in his brain go off. 

“If you don’t respond I will get you mint cho—”

“Strawberry!” he answers with urgency. Jaehwan laughs.

“Damn, Sewoon, you really hate mint choco that much?” Jaehwan amusingly comments before walking up to the counter to the order. Sewoon just wishes for Donghyun to arrive already.

But call Sewoon a clown, because why did he even expect. 

After their ‘ice cream date’ (don’t ask him, he doesn’t know why his brain constructed it like that.) His phone dings to a message from Donghyun, because the devil himself decided to ditch them last minute.

He walks to Jaehwan, who is holding their large popcorn. “Donghyun said he won’t be able to make it.”

Jaehwan presses his lips into a thin line before it forms into a pout. “It just has to be the two of us then? Too late to bail, already bought the popcorn.”

And really, they both don’t have a choice. So they went in.

The movie was nice. Sewoon would have enjoyed it if not for the loud thumping in his chest, the uncountable glances over the older, and the grand total of three failed attempts of having the rush to tell his feelings.

He sank into his seat, and by the time the movie was over, Jaehwan was quick to snap a photo over Sewoon’s disorganized state. 

“You should’ve just told me you want to see another movie,” Jaehwan tells him. Sewoon shakes his head.

“No, the movie was actually really nice. I really wanted to see it. Just too preoccupied?” he reasons.

Jaehwan taps his back to comfort him. “LangLit must be really tough.”

Sewoon covers it up with another shaky laugh. “Haha, yeah, so tough.”

  
  
  
  
  


Donghyun waits for his roommate to arrive, expecting good news, but is faced with someone who looks like he has come straight from war. 

“What happened to you?”

Sewoon scoffs. “I have decided to unsee, unhear, and un-meet you from this moment on. I have no roommate.”

“Okay, not-my-roommate, how did the movies go?”

“Not hearing anything.”

“Did you confess?”

A record scratch and a strangled cat noise. “Did I what?”

Donghyun’s eyes grow wide in disbelief. “I purposely ditched the two of you so you could confess!”

Sewoon closes his eyes, trying to take the information in. He blinks, like the meme. “You what?”

“Oh my god,” Donghyun rubs his temples. “You really had no clue?”

A frown forms on Sewoon’s forehead. “No?” he squeaks, opens and closes his mouth a few times before reasoning, “Just thought you were suddenly busy.”

Donghyun rolls his eyes. “Oh heck come on, on a Friday? You know I’m always holed up in our room on a Friday. Bless my schedule.”

“Or you were too lazy to pick up your ass. Which isn’t unlikely.”

“Ah, whatever!” Donghyun concludes that it’s a lost cause to argue with Sewoon, the dense being, right now. “Why didn’t you grab the opportunity? Didn’t it even come to your head?”

“Kind of? I just… didn’t.”

Donghyun is young and in the prime years of his youth. But he sure feels like he’s gotten ten years older with this conversation. He’s thinking of signing a life insurance right now. That might be a good contingency plan.

The younger’s voice increases volume a little, “Then tell me why!” he exclaims, rubbing his temples. His roommate could at least provide a reason, right?

Sewoon racks his brain for a coherent answer.

“Ain’t nothing but a heartache.”

“I’m leaving.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


════ ⋆💌⋆ ════

  
  
  
  
  
  


It goes like a cycle: Sewoon gets caught in his feelings, then pretends as if nothing happened. It’s a great tactic, if you ask him.

He makes his way to the library with two cold cans of coffee in his hand, taking the elevator ride up the literature section.

He enters and scans the room, walking more down the aisle before spotting Jaehwan near the back, face planted in his textbook.Sewoon sneakily makes his way towards the older and presses the cold can on Jaehwan’s cheek.

“This punk,” Jaehwan hisses at the tickling sensation of the cold surface.

“What are you studying?” he asks, dropping his bag and taking a seat in front of the older.

“Syntax and semantics. Kinda just wanna be a cloud right now. Or a cow in New Zealand.”

“I wanna know what it feels like to be a cow in New Zealand,” Sewoon comments.

He finds it amusing how Jaehwan’s eyes light up. “Right? That’s been in my head for the past five minutes now.”

“So you’re telling me,” Sewoon snickers. “You weren’t studying for the past five minutes.”

“No not like that!” Jaehwan swats. “I was trying to read, okay? Read. Then I thought I wanted beef. Then beef is cow meat. And cows look happy in New Zealand.”

The younger props his hand on the table and settles his chin on his palm, looking at Jaehwan like he’s Plato.

He smiles. “Point taken.”

Jaehwan narrows his eyes. “You’re mocking me.”

“No I’m not?” but he gets Jaehwan’s finger pointed on his forehead, the older pushing it that he topples from his leverage.

“You’re here to study with me. Not clown me.”

The smile doesn’t fade from Sewoon’s lips. “Trust me, I’m not.”

  
  
  
  


It’s another night of crisis. Sewoon asks for help from Donghyun and Youngmin.

The three of them are in the cooking area, inhaling the tteokbokki they bought. It was Sewoon’s treat, after Donghyun threatened him. 

“I want to confess,” he speaks in between chewing. “But I don’t know how.”

Youngmin looks up, finishes chewing before he speaks. “Just do it.”

Sewoon shoots another tteok, but it ungracefully hits the back of his throat. Donghyun laughs, and Youngmin offers him a bottle of water. He hits his chest to get a grip before hurriedly chewing the piece down and finishes the whole bottle.

He is heavily panting, but manages to say, “Reality check. I’m not a Nike ambassador.”

Donghyun makes a mocking expression. “ _I’m not a Nike ambassador_ ,” he imitates. “How hilarious of you, hyung!”

Sewoon playfully throws a tissue at Donghyun’s face. “Shut up.”

They continue eating for a while before Youngmin decides to speak again. “Think of it like this. When someone offers you hotteok and hanwoo. You immediately think of getting hanwoo, right?”

Sewoon raises an eyebrow. “I don’t get it. Am I paying?”

Youngmin wipes his own mouth with tissue before speaking. “Oh for the love of god,” he sighs. “Let me explain.”

The look on the eldest face immediately shuts him up. He should just finish his food.

“Hotteok, simple. Hanwoo, the upper level,” Youngmin starts. Sewoon listens intently. “Confessing doesn’t always have to be grand. Sometimes it can be simple just like a warm hotteok.”

Then Sewoon leans back to process the thought. Youngmin is right. It can be simple.

  
  
  
  
  


With his small bit of will and confidence, his confession the following day goes like this:

Jaehwan, in perfect timing, invited him to eat lunch together at the cafeteria. The usual dynamic, but Sewoon’s heart is acting up again. He is resolute on confessing today despite his spiraling thoughts and feelings, pushes his courage before the warm hotteok cools down.

He missed his chance before they entered the cafeteria. He missed his chance while they were in line, missed his chance again when they both took a seat. He doesn’t want to stall it any further now, so he stuffs his face until his bowl of noodles are almost finished.

“Hyung,” Sewoon mutters, after gulping down his noodles. “I like you.”

In front of him, Jaehwan is mixing his jjajangmyeon noodles again. “Oh, really?” he nonchalantly responds.

The younger pauses. _What is happening?_ “I wasn’t obvious?”

Jaehwan doesn't give him an elaboration, and simply says, “You’re terrible,” before taking a mouthful.

“What– me?” Sewoon shakes his head in confusion. He blinks. “So… I just got rejected?”

The older hurriedly cuts his noodles to look at the younger. “What?" his face contorts into something as if Sewoon had said something so offensive. "No, absolutely not.”

Sewoon doesn’t understand. He continues looking at the older, biting the inside of his cheeks trying to choose the word to say. He doesn’t want this to end in flames.

“Then…”

Jaehwan subtly gestures at his bowl. “Sewoon let me finish my lunch.”

Oh. Yes of course. How rude of him. “Sorry,” he whispers sheepishly. “Take your time.”

The older smiles. “Thanks.”

He waits, looking at Jaehwan smother his jjajangmyeon a bit too affectionately that he thinks the older still looks so cute and adorable even with the sauce on his lips.

Finally, Jaehwan finishes and Sewoon reaches over for a tissue to hand it over to the older.

“You like me… what,” Jaehwan mutters while wiping the remaining sauce around his lips.

“What.”

He folds the tissue and places it in his pocket, to be thrown later when they pass by the bins. “I mean, what made you like me.”

“Um, for starters, I don’t know… maybe the way I’m so comfortable with you? I could just do anything I want but you’re there when I get a little over boundaries. And um, I care so much about you. I like hearing about your day, and the way you do it for me too…” Sewoon trails off, taps the table trying to remember all the factors that made him like his hyung. 

“And um, jeez… I still have a lot to say! That is not all! Hold on, um,” his face looks like he’s been stepped on by an elephant. “Why are words hard.”

Jeong Sewoon, third year language and literature major, reportedly complaining why words are hard. How picturesque.

Jaehwan chuckles. “Maybe you like me as your personal guardian,” he jokes.

“No! Absolutely not like that,” he lowers his head down in embarrassment and plays with the small piece of noodle left in his bowl before setting his chopsticks down in defeat. “You are completely horribly… horribly completely… complete horrible…. terrifyingly missing the whole p–”

“I get it,” the older smiles.

“–oint,” Sewoon breathes. “Jesus tell me why I’m a language major with the vocabulary of a three-year-old.”

The smile on Jaehwan’s face just continues to grow, and the sides of his eyes crinkle. Sewoon likes it that way the most. 

“I like you too, you brat,” the older admits, and his face has gone red starting from the tip of his ears. “I was trying to make it obvious, guess I failed.”

“Oh.”

“Told about it to Donghyun some time before,” he adds.

_That bastard._ Sewoon is fixed on throwing all his pillows at Donghyun tonight.

He doesn’t realize that Jaehwan is reaching for his hand. “So, yeah, I like you too, Sewoon-ah,” and he plays with the younger’s fingers for a while. Sewoon’s eyes follow, and he can’t help but smile back. 

“What a romantic place for a confession,” Sewoon gestures around the place with the hand Jaehwan isn’t holding. “How extravagant, the cafeteria.”

The happiness tugs at their hearts, both of them know it does. Jaehwan smiles at him sweetly, the sweetest he’s seen so far. “I wouldn’t ask for more.”

  
  
  
  
  


**sewoon** _10:35pm_ _  
_hyung

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:35pm  
_ hm?

**sewoon** _10:35pm  
_ earlier…… that was real right?

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:36 pm  
_ why wouldnt it be  
sewoon-ah  
i like you  
i like you a lot  
do i have to say it again?  
i like you so much  
i really really like you

**sewoon** _10:38pm  
_ okay  
...  
boyfie

**jaehwanie hyung** _10:39pm  
_ ure unbelievable  
boyfire  
boyfie** typo srry

**sewoon** _10:39pm  
_ boyfire ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

**jaehwanie hyung💞** _10:40pm  
_ shut up baby

**sewoon** _10:40pm  
_ um?  
uh

**jaehwanie hyung💞** _10:41pm  
_ [selca attached]  
go to sleep u still hv a 9am class tmr

  
  
  


It’s simple. Like hotteok.

  
  
  
  


They decided to eat lunch outside the university, just because the menu was the same as yesterday. They pass by a bakery, and Jaehwan pulls the younger, fawning over the array of bread to choose from. The sparkle in Jaehwan’s eyes and the brightful tone in his voice makes Sewoon’s heart swell up with joy.

Jaehwan asks him if he wants any, and he only shakes his head ‘no’. The older shrugs, happily placing the pastries in his tray.

They go back to Jaehwan’s room, the older excited to take a bite of the garlic bread he bought. He makes his way to his desk and chair, meanwhile Sewoon takes a seat on the edge of the bed, facing Jaehwan who is now gobbling up the garlic bread.

In the middle of savoring his revolutionary grub, Sewoon hushedly speaks.

“I kinda want to kiss you right now.”

And so they kiss. How romantic.

Except that they didn’t, and Jaehwan brings his hand to push Sewoon's face playfully. “I’m literally eating garlic bread right now babe,” he says matter-of-factly. “I don’t want our first kiss to linger with my breath smelling of garlic, you know.”

Sewoon pouts. Jaehwan eyes him while gobbling his bread.

Unexpectedly,Sewoon did get his kiss later that night, when Jaehwan’s breath didn’t smell of garlic bread because he diligently brushed his teeth.

He gets a text message from the older to open his door.

Jaehwan stands there in his pajamas, and did not waste a second before entering Sewoon’s room and locking the door behind them. 

Sewoon blinks at him, about to ask the older for the sudden intrusion but Jaehwan moves to wrap his arms around the younger’s neck and tiptoes before pressing their lips against each other. 

Jaehwan has his eyes closed, but Sewoon’s remains open in shock. It flutters close when Jaehwan moves his lips and tilts his head, making the younger hold him by the waist. He tastes a speck of the older’s mint toothpaste, but decides he’ll let it slide for now.

Jaehwan pulls away so soon, pressing one last peck on the younger’s lips before running out of the door. Sewoon stands at the threshold in bewilderment.

After a few minutes, the door opens again, he expects it to be Jaehwan, butis faced with Donghyun instead.

“I saw Jaehwan-hyung panting while I got off the elevator. I laughed at him ‘cause he was so red,” Donghyun recalls. He takes a seat on his desk before he jumps off and realizes. “Wait.”

He now realizes that Sewoon’s face is burning red too. 

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


Sewoon discovers how much he likes kissing Jaehwan.

He gets pushed against the door of Jaehwan’s room, and their lips are already connected with each other before he knows it. Tongues dancing and exploring, and biting each other’s lips like they were hungry.

Sewoon slithers his arms around Jaehwan's waist, smoothly falling down to slip both his hands inside the older’s back pockets, settles it there, and squeezes Jaehwan’s ass. The older forces himself to swallow a moan.

“You’re a little aggressive,” Jaehwan smirks.

“Hm, Donghyun did say before that I have an affinity for butts,” Sewoon acknowledges, biting and kissing the outline of Jaehwan’s jaw.

“But is my butt okay?”

Sewoon trails upwards to bite at the older’s earlobe and whispers lowly. “Your butt is my favorite.”

Jaehwan chuckles to hide the shiver that ran down his spine. “How many butts have you touched?”

“Eh, just my friends.”

Sewoon peers over Jaehwan's shoulder, and the older follows, turning back to Sewoon with a confused expression.

“Just checking if Woojin is here. Don't want another version of me helplessly walking on Donghyun and Youngmin-hyung sucking faces– ah,” it follows with a mewl, because Jaehwan is now paying attention to kissing and marking his neck. “Don’t want him to suffer like I did.”

“Already checked it before we got here,” Jaehwan says, biting at the junction of Sewoon’s neck and shoulder. “He's probably making out with his boyfriend Jihoon at the laundry room.”

“The laundry room?” Sewoon huffs when he feels Jaehwan lick the spot he was marking. “They're really fearless.”

“Want us to try it too?” Sewoon is pretty sure that the older is smirking on the other side of his neck right now.

“Ah, I don't know, ugh, let's see.”

  
  
  


🏙️

  
  
  


But it’s not like kissing is everything they do (most of the time it is.) Of course there’s the cuddling (it has never felt warmer before), the holding hands (Sewoon likes to play with Jaehwan’s fingers, always complimenting the older with how pretty it is. He wants to hold the older’s hand forever), the study dates (they get more whiny with each other, but it always ends up with a small scolding to finish studying before promising another cuddle session afterwards.)

Today however, is a lazy day off, the both of them sitting side by side on Sewoon’s bed. They are both glued to their phones, the younger going through a Chinese restaurant’s menu a few blocks away for their late lunch meanwhile Jaehwan is scrolling through his social media.

All of a sudden, Sewoon kisses the mole on Jaehwan’s neck then goes back to scrolling to his phone as if nothing happened. 

“What are you doing?” Jaehwan muses.

Sewoon shrugs. “Just want to kiss my favorite spot.”

Jaehwan counters with a kiss on the mole underneath Sewoon’s lips. Sewoon giggles. Jaehwan throws his phone back, shifting his body to face Sewoon and starts to pepper the younger’s face with kisses, purposely missing his lips.

Sewoon whines and catches a good grip of the older before latching their lips together for a quick kiss, but Jaehwan is back on peppering him with it. Now focused on his lips though.

The younger giggles again in between, grabs Jaehwan by the shoulder and is leaning towards him to push him back, determined to get a ‘revenge’ when a voice speaks across them.

“You both know I’m still here right,” Donghyun, whose whole body is wrapped around his blanket pokes his head out and his face just looks like he has aged thirty years even though he was probably asleep. The both of them didn’t even notice when they arrived. Donghyun hisses, “Gross,” and pushes himself to stand up.

Sewoon buries his face in his palm out of slight embarrassment. “Just leave, Dong,” Sewoon shoos.

Donghyun stands by the door, holding his key card and wallet and points it to them threateningly. “You two owe me ice cream for brain damage and interrupting my nap.”

The youngest exit, and they both burst into laughter. Poor Donghyun.

  
  
  
  
  


They leave to eat outside, the both of them texting an apology to Donghyun and agreed to meet him after their meal.

They joke about how they should have been roommates instead, so they won’t be able to interrupt other people but it sucks, ‘cause they’ve already signed their two-year lease and will just be stuck with their own roommates. Not that they’re complaining about their roommates, but they’re thankful to say the least. That they’ve become valuable friends, and has also been patient for the two of them to figure it out.

Not only Donghyun but also Woojin gets two tubs of ice cream each.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you very much if you've finished this trainwreck <3


End file.
